


Once Upon a Different Rhyme

by Dawn_Blossom



Series: Chrobinweek2020 and it's still all Chrom/Grima [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe, Chrom's father is alive and unfortunately kicking, M/M, disinheriting oneself and choosing the former enemy instead, irreconcilable moral differences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27101029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom
Summary: “Chrom.” The Exalt of Ylisse sighs. “You disappoint me. This is the… fifth…?”“Sixth.” Chrom grimaces. “The sixth time I’ve been kidnapped by the fell dragon, I know. But… Er…”[Chrobin Week 2020: Day 1 - Prompt: Fairytales]
Relationships: Chrom/Gimurei | Grima, Chrom/My Unit | Reflet | Robin
Series: Chrobinweek2020 and it's still all Chrom/Grima [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978069
Comments: 4
Kudos: 118





	Once Upon a Different Rhyme

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Chrobin Week! Although for me, I guess you could call it Chrom/Grima Week... Actually, every week is Chrom/Grima Week for me. Point is, I'm coming at you this week with 7 new fics.
> 
> Anyway, this one was inspired by a prompt on tumblr I saw... sometime since the pandemic started (does time even exist anymore?). It was something along the lines of "gay prince has to explain to his father why he keeps getting kidnapped by the same dragon." I immediately thought of Chrom/Grima, but I put it out of my mind at first... until I saw today's prompt and decided I could make something of it.
> 
> So, yeah... Hope you enjoy!

“Father… I can explain.” 

Chrom looks down at the bruises covering his arms. There are more than this, but they lie in places his father should never see.

“Chrom.” The Exalt of Ylisse sighs. “You disappoint me. This is the… fifth…?”

“Sixth.” Chrom grimaces. “The sixth time I’ve been kidnapped by the fell dragon, I know. But… Er…”

His father stares coldly forward, gesturing impatiently.

“Yes?”

“I was at the market picking up supplies for the Shepherds when…”

* * *

“The sun!” a man shrieks in the street.. “The sun has disappeared! The world is coming to an end!”

“Someone’s new in town,” the vendor mutters as she casts a spark of magic to light the surrounding lanterns. Turning her attention back to Chrom, she smiles. “Will this be all, milord?”

“Hold onto it for me, please.” Chrom grits his teeth. “Right now, I have a dragon to stop.”

“Alright, alright,” the vendor says. “Tell him I said…”

Actually, the rest of the vendor’s statement shouldn’t be repeated in front of the Exalt.

Chrom runs into the street, his rapier at the ready. He doesn’t use the Falchion because…

Because he doesn’t want to seriously injure the civilians, of course.

“Grima!” he shouts. “Stop playing around! Come out and—”

The words have barely left his mouth when he feels a sword pressed to his neck. Not just any sword, but a Levin sword. At its owner’s thought, it will light up with magic, frying Chrom as well as everything in the immediate vicinity.

It’s not that Chrom couldn’t have escaped… It’s just that doing so would have put too many people at risk.

“That’s right. Come quietly, dear prince.” The fell dragon’s whisper is… mocking. “Perhaps I will suffer your people to live another day.”

* * *

“And that’s how it happened,” Chrom says.

His father does not look impressed in the least.

“Do you mean to tell me,” the Exalt growls, “that the human vessel was right there, and you did NOTHING?”

“I… didn’t want to hurt—” Chrom tries to say.

“Boy, the slaughter of this whole damned city would be a TINY price to pay for the defeat of that monster,” his father says. “Are you as weak-willed as your sisters? Have I entrusted our family’s sword to a coward?”

Chrom is silent. The insult to his sisters stings more than the criticism. His father does not care how influential Emmeryn is with her words, or how skillful Lissa is with her staves. The Falchion would not work for them, so Chrom alone bears the weight of his father’s “favor.”

“Well, HAVE I?”

“No, Father,” Chrom says. 

If he were a coward, he would have run away years ago.

“Don’t lie. I’ve trained you personally,” his father says. “There is no flaw in your strength. Your bumbling incompetence is a result of your feeble heart.”

“I am doing everything I can to save Ylisse,” Chrom insists.

“I hope that you are wrong, that this is not all that you are capable of,” his father says. “I will give you one more chance. Find and slay the fell dragon, or do not come back at all.”

“You…” Chrom frowns. “You would really…?”

“I do not like that it’s come to this.” The Exalt sighs. “But time and again, you have failed, not just me, but your country. You are descended from legends; the First Exalt and the Hero King both fought with the very sword and shield you now possess. Naga’s blessing runs in your veins! Son, if you dishonor that legacy, you throw away the name of House Ylisse!”

Chrom swallows thickly.

“I understand.”

He understands that his father has a very narrow view of what it means to defeat evil.

Personally, Chrom thinks it would have been easier to slay the fell dragon than to convince him of the value of the world he hated.

The latter was entirely worth it, though.

* * *

“How did it go?” Grima asks.

Meeting up just outside the city like this is so sadly secretive. Though not as sad as having to stage a kidnapping just to spend a few nights together.

Chrom is sick of it.

“Not well,” he says. “My father isn’t like you were. He’s happy in his beliefs, not miserable. He doesn’t want things to be different.”

“You know what I think about it,” Grima says. “Leave him. Come back with me.”

Chrom places a hand on Grima’s arm. They’ve had this conversation multiple times. But today…

“Okay,” he agrees.

He smiles faintly as Grima’s eyes widen in shock. Chrom has protested every time before now, sure that he could get his father to see reason. But now that his father has given up on him, perhaps it is time to admit defeat and withdraw.

“He said not to come home until I slay you,” he explains. “And since that will never happen…”

A spark of anger sets Grima’s eyes alight.

“Can I—”

“No, you can’t tear him limb from limb,” Chrom says. “It wouldn’t be good for you…”

Grima tries to look annoyed, but his efforts are undermined by the way his eyes keep flickering back to Chrom’s.

“I can’t believe this is how it’s happening,” he mutters.

“Er…” Chrom chuckles. “Surprise?”

“I didn’t think you’d agree,” Grima says. “I… I thought you’d… never…”

He grabs Chrom by the shoulders.

Oh… 

Chrom’s heart aches a little.

“Grima, I was always going to,” he says. “Er, assuming you kept offering… As long as you wanted me to…”

Grima kisses him before he can really start rambling.

“Stupid prince,” Grima says when their lips separate. “Stay with me and keep me from destroying everything you love.”

Ylisse. The world. Himself. Chrom knows the words Grima does not speak.

“As you command,” Chrom says, only half teasing.

This isn’t how legends involving evil dragons usually go. Chrom’s father is looking for that classic ending, for Chrom to rid the world of the dragon and bring peace to all the people.

But would such a thing even be possible? Would destroying one dragon actually ensure everyone’s happiness? Chrom would never shy away from a fight if it would save a life, but the hardest fights he’s known have never been fought with swords.

Grima smirks, but his gaze is just a little too soft to belong to a _completely_ smug bastard.

And so, while Chrom is aware that his life might not make an ideal fairy tale for young children, he does not regret what he has done.


End file.
